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Friday, May 31, 2013

Homeschool Mothers Journal - Week 52

In my life this week.....

My fibro is kicking my butt this week. I don't think the weather changes we had this week helped at all. I am basically living day to day, hour by hour right now, hoping to make to things that I have scheduled. Every few months, my fibro issues start exhibiting symptoms of lupus. I was told by a doctor that I would eventually end up with that diagnosis....don't know how that works though. I missed an important planning meeting on Tuesday for a friend's fundraiser. And today I could barely walk most of the afternoon. I managed to get some work done.....What little bit I could, I even managed to get the laundry almost done.

In our homeschool this week...

It's the end of our "school year". The new year starts June 3rd. I gave the kids their "grade cards" yesterday and it was the first time they actually looked at what I wrote about their work. Lydia is excited that she'll be considered a 2nd grader. Joey will be in 7th grade, Brayden 6th grade, and Caty will be in K1. Our school district has two kindergarten levels. If I was putting her in school, I would be requested she go into K1 instead of K2. Her speech is getting better, but not well enough yet.

The sad thing is that there are not drastic changes being made in school work. I do have some changes. I'll blog about curriculum adjustments that have been made this weekend. Watch for our '2013-2014 School year Choices' post.

This week Lydia worked on reading graphs and practiced more money in math. Joey is also working on counting and adding money in math. Brayden is still working on his new Math Mammoth program. Lydia and Joey both started programs with Moving Beyond the Page (watch for the upcoming review). Brayden is working on a new program for him, using it for Science right now. He is liking the program a lot. Lydia finished her first spelling test this week....and only missed one!!! She was very proud of her sticker :).

She managed to get a couple state fair projects almost completed. We really need to work hard on them next week. I have them planned, she just needs to do the work.

Projects I am working on.....

Cleaning out my art supply closet.....I also want to find the top of the desk that I use. Basically the entire are that is my office/storage closet needs to have some work done. Since it is supposed to be nasty and rainy all weekend, guess it will be a good time to work on it.

We need to gut Joe's office area. All I can say is YUCK!!!

I am supposed to be training for a 5K run in August. Haven't ran this week because of the way I have been feeling.

The kids favorite this week......

I am thinking getting to watch the new pool get installed today. They actually had all their schoolwork done by 11 am and sat on the back deck to watch the installers.

I'm cooking....

Lots of chicken on the grill. I worked on a mayo-less coleslaw, still a work in progress. I made potato dumpling soup, and Brayden LOVED it!!! I was going to bake a caramel apple cake today, but it didn't happen. On Monday I baked an allergen friendly pineapple upside down cake. Joe loves grilled peaches and ice cream, so we made that a couple times this week while grilling. Yesterday I made Joey homemade onion rings, which he has been asking for. (That took it out of me...but he loved them). I may be using the crock pot this weekend to give myself at least a one meal break a day...lol.

I'm reading.....

I pick this back up....It's great, I just get interrupted so much I give up trying to finish most books.
I would like to finish it before I start the American Girl Study guides for this fall. Those books have started arriving.

Our week in pictures.....

It was so nice on Saturday and Sunday....we had lots of cookouts on our bigger fire pit.

Hot dogs and hamburgers

Chicken and corn

Joe moved Brayden's trike system onto a bigger bike for him.

Oh yeah....grilled peaches for Joe.

You'll see the Kitten in a lot of pictures this week. Lydia wanted to hold her all the time while doing her schoolwork. Nermal fell asleep while Lydia was reading the other day.

One day I told her to practice her spelling words....yeah this is what I found.

Lydia learned about Giotto and Van Eyck this week in art.

Her drawing assignment for Giotto was to draw something she liked or saw everyday. He was "discovered" while drawing sheep (he was a shepherd). So she chose this Hello Kitty head that sits on the game shelf by her desk.

She also learned about Van Eyck (We are using the Usborne Book of Famous Artists this summer).

I let her use oil paints for this project. She worked on the back deck while watching the pool installers.

Her assignment was to draw a picture from her Bible Story book. Since Van Eyck was known for his religious art.

Caty did really well in her work this week. This was some of her following direction sheets. (She loves to work on the back deck...so we school outside right now :) ... )

Brayden started using Simple Homeschool this week. He told me that he really likes it.

I caught him watching Sesame Street in the living room the other day. He was playing along with the "game show" and laughing.

Notice the kitten again!! She was working on her money skills.

Caty started Explore the Code online this week.

While Lydia was painting, Caty wanted to also. So I set her little easel up also.

I love these flowers in our backyard.

We watched the installers put in the new pool that Grandpa ordered.

And then shortly after the installers left, we had a surprise thunderstorm. The girls were so excited to play in the rain.

They were upset when I spotted the lightening and they had to come inside, so they stood at the awning.